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(Alliance News) - Big Yellow Group PLC on Wednesday said it saw its good trading momentum push through into the third quarter of its financial year, with household and business move-ins driving high occupancy rates.
The Bagshot, England-based self-storage firm said total revenue for the third quarter ended December 31 was up 4.0% to GBP34.7 million from GBP32.3 million a year prior.
Closing occupancy increased by 8.8% year-on-year to 4.1 million square feet from 3.7 million square feet. The occupancy rate was 82.9%, up from 79.9% a year before.
The store maximum lettable area grew by 4.8% to 4.9 million square feet from 4.7 million square feet a year before.
Year-to-date total revenue was at GBP100.5 million, up 4.0% from GBP96.6 million a year prior.
Big Yellow saw a total of 16,322 move-ins in the quarter, up 11% from 14,643 move-ins a year before, and 17,286 move-outs, down 1% from 17,424 move-outs a year prior.
Business move-ins in the quarter were up 18% compared to the prior year, while Domestic move-ins were up 11%. Big Yellow's third sector is the Student market, for which it didn't provide move-in rates.
Chief Executive James Gibson said: "The trading momentum we referred to when announcing our half year results has continued through the quarter, and this has been our best occupancy performance in the third quarter for many years. The main driver of this occupancy performance has been our domestic customer base, although business demand has also continued to improve.
"What is becoming clear is that awareness of our product has accelerated during this difficult time, as people reflect on how they live their lives or operate their businesses. As we have stated previously, the structural tail winds which have been accelerated by this health crisis continue to outweigh the economic head winds, in so far as they impact our demand. We also believe that our performance during this period is reflective of self storage being better established than it was during the global financial crisis."
Big Yellow is confident in the longer-term, the company said, with principal drivers being revenue growth from the existing portfolio.
The company said it will continue its targeted expansion focussed on the London area and its commuter towns.
Big Yellow shares were up 1.2% at 1,092.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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